Greeley attorneys volunteer to help resolve small claims cases

Weld County Court Division C Judicial Assistant Joy Wagoner, right, talks with attorneys Charles Shoop, left, and Jon Burtard about case files in small claims court on Thursday. Attorneys have been volunteering their time to help mitigate cases so they don't have to go to trail.

Attorney Jon Burtard studies case files while in the Division C small claims court at the Weld County Courthouse on Thursday. Burtard is one of the attorneys volunteering his time to help solve disputes so they don't have to go to trail.

Magistrate Randall C. Lococo swears in people during the beginning of small claims court in the Division C courtroom on Thursday. Lococo has allowed attorneys to help mitigate cases to help them so they do not have to go to trail.

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Greeley attorney Jon Burtard’s first time volunteering to help resolve a small claims case before it went to trial wasn’t going well.

The two couples sat with Burtard in the Weld County Courthouse on Tuesday, both interrupting the other side and firing harsh words over a construction dispute worth about $550. But after less than an hour, Burtard helped them settle on a dollar amount with which the two couples were happy, and they walked out satisfied that their case was finally closed.

That case was one of hundreds of small claims and eviction cases that come across Magistrate Randall Lococo’s docket each year, more than 60 percent of which are successfully settled before trial with the help of volunteer mediators like Burtard. After their case was settled Tuesday, the two couples told Lococo they were thankful for Burtard’s help — gratitude which Lococo said the attorneys rarely hear but heartily deserve.

“They create time in their world at my request as a free service to the litigants to try to help them,” Lococo said.

The volunteer mediators help to lighten the load of small claims and eviction cases in an already packed legal system. Last year, Lococo heard 290 such cases where both parties showed up. Nearly all of those went through mediation, and volunteer attorneys helped resolve 60 percent of those before they went to trial.

“I’d have to do small claims cases all day, every day, and that would take me away from other cases,” Lococo said. “Taxpayers would have to hire more judges if these mediators weren’t helping out as much as they do.”

Most people in small claims and eviction cases don’t hire attorneys, often because they can’t afford them and because the amount of money at stake is relatively small — less than $7,500. Still, they go through a process that may require presenting evidence before Lococo in a trial.

For more on the story, see Saturday’s Tribune.

I think the court process for everyone is a little bit intimidating. When you’re representing yourself, it can become even more so. — Karen Salaz, district administrator for Weld County’s courts